Debunking Claims: France’s Stance on Religious Buildings Amid Church Demolition Controversy

"France is building thousands of mosques (about 2,600) and demolishing its churches..." wrote an Internet user in a comment on an excerpt from a report on the destruction of the church in the village of La Baconnière in Mayenne, broadcast in early August on TF1. But this information is not verified, assures France Info, recalling that since the 1905 law, the French state no longer builds religious buildings (churches, mosques or other places of worship). This mission of construction and maintenance of religious buildings is now the responsibility of the communities, it insists.

Also, it is inaccurate to claim that the Muslim community has built "2,600 mosques" in France as the author of the tweet claims, specifies the same source, pointing out that the person concerned does not distinguish between mosques and Muslim places of worship. The former being a whole building while the latter can be a simple room arranged for prayer. Of the nearly 2,600 Muslim places of worship in France, two-thirds are prayer rooms, indicates the Observatory of Secularism in its 2019 report, adding that France has more than 4,000 Protestant temples and nearly 39,000 churches.

Before 1905, the maintenance of religious buildings was the responsibility of local authorities in France. But sometimes without means, the latter are forced to demolish these buildings, for safety reasons. This is the case of the church in La Baconnière, the subject of the TF1 report. According to the Observatory of Religious Heritage, more than 500 churches are threatened with ruin and are about to be destroyed.